


A Timely Intervention

by SynthSea



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: because if putting your fist into a sock is enough to give it substance, listen Wendy possessing a sock puppet is just as deadly, well a girl can still punch people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 00:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9297254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynthSea/pseuds/SynthSea
Summary: Instead of Blendin, Bill gets hold of another familiar face, and seeks out Mabel for the rift. However, possessing a close friend might give that friend enough time to get help and intervene.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Someone gave me a prompt of "What if Bill took over Wendy's body instead and went to bargain from Dipper" but then my brain went with "GO BARGAIN WITH MABEL" instead, so it's NOT quite what the request said, and the ending is quite limp, but I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out before I burned myself.
> 
> Now that I think about it, writing from Wendy's perspective might be hilarious.

The ground was damp, and the roots dug into her back painfully, but Mabel stayed where she was, letting the tear-soaked wool rub at her face.

"Hey, Mabel?"

Mabel looked up at the sound of Wendy's voice, but what she saw made her flinch. "Wendy?" Mabel hiccuped and scrambled to her feet. "You're not Wendy."

Wendy's arms were covered in fine cuts and bits of the forest were caught on her clothes and hair, as if she had been navigating her way through the woods with her eyes closed. But she looked hardly bothered at all, only smiling menacingly at Mabel. The light caught her eyes strangely, as if there were a thin film of yellow on the surface. The pupils were cat-like, but sharper. Panic welled in Mabel’s chest -- there was one time she saw eyes like those.

"Bill?"

Bill laughed, a high pitched noise that echoed and resonated with Wendy's voice. The effect made Mabel want to bolt straight back to the Shack and hide under her bed. She shouldn't have ran out and left Dipper alone. She had completely forgotten about Dipper -- and what if he didn't know about Bill? Or maybe Bill had gotten to him again? It took everything in her to stay where she was, though every instinct told her to run and check on her brother.

"Didn't think you'd catch on that quickly, Shooting Star." Bill walked closer, dropping all pretense. Mabel squeaked in panic and dove for her backpack, grabbing it and ducking out of Bill's path. Bill didn't bother grabbing her, but paused. "Whoo! Someone's scared? Smart. Ice Bag here? Not so much."

Mabel froze. "What did you do to Wendy?" Lying underneath her fear, was a growing need to fix things and help Wendy. Her friend was taken over by Bill and the last time that happened, she could have lost her brother. If Wendy was still around somehow, then Mabel had to try like last time. Wendy would have done the same for her or Dipper.

"Nothing, really." Bill shrugged. He glanced to his side, as if listening to something only he could hear. Mabel realized with a sinking feeling that Wendy was likely around, screaming soundlessly for Bill to give her body back. "You know the drill. Made a deal, and now suddenly I'm the bad guy--"

"You _are_ the bad guy!" Mabel blurted out. The second the words left her, she clasped both hands to her mouth. Bill stared at her for a second. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Sure, Shooting Star. That would make you the good guy, wouldn't it? So you get a chance to fix it all and save the day?"

Bill scoffed and leaned down. Mabel jumped back but Bill was now walking towards her with long strides, covering the distance between them quickly. "It's your lucky day then! One shot to save your friend. Just the one. All I need from you is one small favor. And I think it's an easy one you can do." Bill's voice sounded more and more like himself, Wendy's natural timbre becoming less and less prominent the more Bill talked. Mabel held her backpack in front of her like a shield, trying to stay calm while she glanced to her sides frantically for a way out.

"Come on, think of it as a chance to be the hero, right?" By now Bill had moved close enough to crouch in front of Mabel. A non-threatening sign of peace. An attempt to gain trust. Bill held out his hand, and Mabel flinched backwards. "I mean, think about it. When do you ever get a chance to have the spotlight? Sure, you'll go for it, but when has your family, hell, when has your brother given a chance for you to be the hero? When they are always cleaning after your messes?"

“All I need from you is a snowglobe looking thing with a space goldfish in it.” Bill jerked his chin at the backpack. Mabel flinched at the sharp gesture. The wide grin on Wendy’s face only grew bigger, more threatening. “I know you have it, Shooting Star. That’s Pine Tree’s backpack. You even grabbed the wrong backpack, geez. But here I am, giving you the chance to do something right.”

Mabel hugged the backpack tighter, her fingers digging into the straps. She could feel a hard lump, the shape of a sphere pressed between her arms and her chest. A small voice sneered in her mind, agreeing with what Bill was saying. With everything that was happening with the grunkles, and Wendy’s earlier warning about growing up...Mabel felt small and powerless in the face of everything. The more she shrunk back into her sweater, the more she was reminded of the fact that not even Sweater Town would keep Bill away. And with Wendy's body, he could go for far longer than when he was possessing Dipper.

“What do you say, Shooting Star?” The forest floor made a hushed noise as Bill moved closer. Mabel swallowed, her heart thudding against her ribs. A slight twitch of his wrists, and Bill’s hand was wreathed in blue flames. “A small favor -- just hand over the globe, and you get to be a hero. Deal?”

Mabel opened her mouth.

“MABEL!”

Both Mabel and Bill whipped their heads around.

A large sock with googly eyes flew at Wendy’s face full force, knocking into her nose. “No deal, you body-stealing, lying creep!” Wendy’s voice shrilled from the sock puppet. With all the anger its googly-eyed face could muster, it continued to swing at Wendy’s head and nose with a vengeance, Bill wailing and waving Wendy’s arms to try and defend himself.

Dipper followed closely behind, reaching Mabel’s side in an instant. He had her backpack, the one with all the fliers that she’d spent the day making and trying to distribute. Some of them flew out of the open mouth of the backpack as Dipper dropped it on the ground, panting and red-faced. But her focus was on none of them.  “Are you alright?” he gasped, hands reaching out to grip her arms, which reached out automatically to support him.

Mabel gave a watery smile back, blinking the tears loose from her eyelashes.

“Way better now.”

Dipper threw his arms around her neck, and Mabel wrapped her arms around his ribs, squeezing tightly. “How’d you know where to find me?”

“Mystery twins?” mumbled Dipper around a mouthful of hair. He coughed and spat it back out. Mabel managed to laugh and shove him away playfully. Dipper laughed back. “Honestly, I just followed Wendy. Said there was a trail Bill left. She wasn’t wrong. Bill really has no idea how to use human bodies and broke tons of branches? Not sure, but I think I learned a few things about tracking from Wendy today. She's...got a pretty good handle on being a sock, actually.”

In the background, Sockpuppet-Wendy was giving Bill a good run for his money, gripping a sizable branch and floating after him. “OW! LAY OFF, RED! A DEAL IS A DEAL! STOP-OW! STOP HITTING ME WITH THAT!” The branch added another long gash across Wendy’s cheek and Bill fell to the ground. Sockpuppet-Wendy ( _“Spendy?”_ Mabel thought to herself) emitted a muffled yell and dove after him with the branch. Cowering on the ground, Bill raised his hands and covered his head, trying to grab the sock.

Unfortunately, unlike sleep-exhausted Dipper, Wendy’s body was in far better condition, even though coordinating the longer limbs to react quickly was proving to be a challenge. It looked like the sock was the one connection Wendy had to reality. Bill managed to grip the corner of the sock, and Wendy lost grip on the branch for a second. However, it dropped onto Bill’s face, causing him to fall back with another pained yell and Wendy was able to recover quickly enough to fly to another branch and try again.

Mabel pulled her grappling hook from the backpack, and gave Dipper a quick one-armed hug (an actual hug could wait until they got rid of Bill properly).

“Well, Dipper. Ready to kick triangle butt and save a friend?”

Dipper chuckled and dusted off his vest.

“You got it, sister!”


End file.
